Freezer is an intense story, following the journey of an engaged woman whose past has caught up with her. A man forces himself in to her flat and reveals to the audience that Chirhiro was raped by three men and it was recorded on video and reveals to her the shocking news that the other to rapists are on their way. With this startling beginning, it is very unsettling to watch a very attractive woman who seemed so happy to be thrown in to such an ordeal. Even more unsettling is when her fiancé is told about her past and he turns his back on her, making her all alone. When Chirhiro finally garners the courage to attack Hirokawa, the audience are firmly behind her. Kojima's murder is the most surprising because she is reacting to him discovering Hirokawa's body and finally Baba's murder, who is without doubt one of the most repulsively evil characters ever, is totally expected and, on Chirhiro's part, totally pre meditated. Despite this build up of murders where each one become less of a big deal for Chirhiro and the fact that she likes looking at her frozen corpses, I still had a great deal of empathy for her due to her past experiences and the fact that she felt shame and guilt over what was done to her. It isn't until the end that she goes too far with an act of madness that causes her downfall and the audience sees that every action has a subsequent reaction. Surprisingly great plot for what, on the surface, appears a mere revenge film.
The film relies heavily on Inoue Harumi as Chirhiro to carry the film as she is in every scene and the plot is centred on her character. Luckily, she is a fantastic actress who proves more than capable to lead the film. The role requires vulnerability, sex appeal, anger, madness and a desire to be happy. With so many emotions on demand, many actors could fail to deliver but Inoue achieves every level with perfection. It is just as well, she is in every scene, however, as the rest of the cast is fairly poor. Tsurumi Shingo as Kojima is very poor and Takeneka Naoto as Baba, despite being effective, gives a very over the top performance which is almost unwatchable. Kitamura Kazuki as Hirokawa gives the most decent performance out of the supporting cast as he is relentless in his approach and very nasty yet still has a slight charm about him. Mr Nogami is a completely useless character, almost as much as he is a boyfriend, who garners little sympathy from the audience and his importance is prevalent in Chirhiro but not in the film.
Coupled with Inoue Harumi's great performance is great direction from Takashi Ishii. The chase scene between Chirhiro and Hirokawa is done very well as the tension build up is very intense and all the killing scenes are fantastically brutal. As well as great direction of scenes, there are some great insert shots. For example, when Chirhiro has the power cut, there are lots of shots focused on the sun, giving a great sense of scorching heat. Also the frequent inserts of the rape video are done very well and give a great sense of delving in to Chirhiro's psyche. Also present are a couple of references to the famous Psycho shower scene which, although obvious, are much welcomed.
With an extremely well written main character and a performance to match, Freezer manages to play on the audience's emotions and with Takashi Ishii on top writing and direction form; the film also makes the grade as an entertainment piece. Definitely one of the most underrated films from Japan I've seen.
The film relies heavily on Inoue Harumi as Chirhiro to carry the film as she is in every scene and the plot is centred on her character. Luckily, she is a fantastic actress who proves more than capable to lead the film. The role requires vulnerability, sex appeal, anger, madness and a desire to be happy. With so many emotions on demand, many actors could fail to deliver but Inoue achieves every level with perfection. It is just as well, she is in every scene, however, as the rest of the cast is fairly poor. Tsurumi Shingo as Kojima is very poor and Takeneka Naoto as Baba, despite being effective, gives a very over the top performance which is almost unwatchable. Kitamura Kazuki as Hirokawa gives the most decent performance out of the supporting cast as he is relentless in his approach and very nasty yet still has a slight charm about him. Mr Nogami is a completely useless character, almost as much as he is a boyfriend, who garners little sympathy from the audience and his importance is prevalent in Chirhiro but not in the film.
Coupled with Inoue Harumi's great performance is great direction from Takashi Ishii. The chase scene between Chirhiro and Hirokawa is done very well as the tension build up is very intense and all the killing scenes are fantastically brutal. As well as great direction of scenes, there are some great insert shots. For example, when Chirhiro has the power cut, there are lots of shots focused on the sun, giving a great sense of scorching heat. Also the frequent inserts of the rape video are done very well and give a great sense of delving in to Chirhiro's psyche. Also present are a couple of references to the famous Psycho shower scene which, although obvious, are much welcomed.
With an extremely well written main character and a performance to match, Freezer manages to play on the audience's emotions and with Takashi Ishii on top writing and direction form; the film also makes the grade as an entertainment piece. Definitely one of the most underrated films from Japan I've seen.